Social media licensing open to abuse, says human rights lawyer

• UPDATED 11.24AM | Added Zaid Malek’s comments.

Human rights lawyer Eric Paulsen has hit out at the announcement that all social media and internet messaging services with at least eight million registered users in the country must apply for a licence.

In a brief statement on social media platform X, the Lawyers For Liberty co-founder and adviser said that he anticipated the move, due to take effect on Jan 1 next year, would be open to abuse by the authorities.

“Look at how the Sedition Act, Communications and Multimedia Act, Peaceful Assembly Act etc have been misused in recent years. 

“There is absolutely no reason to think that these new proposed social media licensing/legislation will also not be misused,” said Paulsen who is also a former representative of Malaysia to the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights.

This came after the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) announced that the measure would take effect on Jan 1, 2025, following the introduction of a new regulatory framework for social media and internet messaging services starting Aug 1.

The measure will be enforced via the Class Licence for Application Service Providers under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

Accountability and cybercrimes

In defending the move, Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching said its purpose was to hold all social media platform providers accountable, tighten standard operating procedures, and curb cybercrimes.

She particularly noted the rising cases of sexual crimes against children and online fraud in Malaysia, which have become increasingly alarming.

Teo noted that there were 360 cases of sexual crimes involving children on social media recorded in 2022, which increased to 525 cases in 2023 while 288 cases were reported from January to June this year.

“In terms of online fraud, the losses amounted to RM453 million in 2022, rising to RM1.2 billion last year, and from January to June this year, the police recorded losses of RM637 million.

“We do not want to see many Malaysians falling victim to online scams. It is a very serious challenge,” she said, adding that the Communications Ministry took several months to conduct engagement sessions with all social media platform providers before making the announcement.

‘Just like PPPA’

Concurring with Paulsen, LFL director Zaid Malek said that licensing social media platforms is unnecessary and will further worsen the government’s reputation for silencing critics.

He likened the licensing scheme to the notorious Printing Presses and Publication Act 1984 (PPPA), which has been used for decades to control the print media, including by shutting down newspapers.

“This draconian law continues to be in force under the Pakatan Harapan-led government despite its previous promises to repeal the PPPA,” he said.

Elaborating further, Zaid said that social media has been an integral component of any democratic society and should be preserved as it is.

He added that any abuse of social media platforms such as cyberbullying, scams or other crimes can be tackled by comprehensive regulations.

“There are multiple recent examples to show the government has been undemocratically trying to quell the voices of dissenters or critics online through takedown requests to social media providers.

“The planned move of imposing licences upon these providers would be a surefire way for the government to force these providers to comply with such requests,” he said.

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